FOXBORO -- Tom Brady admitted Wednesday he has a very close friendship with Randy Moss off the field but he stopped well short of pleading to coach Bill Belichick and the Patriots to make a waiver claim on the troubled wide receiver.

“Would I welcome him back?" Brady said in repeating the question asked of him midway through his Wednesday presser at Gillette Stadium. "You can ask coach Belichick. I don’t make the decisions around here. If I did, Lawyer Milloy would still be here and Deion [Branch] never would have left. Whatever I want doesn’t happen anyway, so I just try to keep my mouth shut.”

Right-handed pitcher Casey Kelly was named the top prospect in the Red Sox organization by Baseball America, which released its Top 10 ranking of the farm system on Wednesday. Kelly just concluded his Arizona Fall League season, and while his 4-5 record and 5.51 ERA between Double-A Portland and the Arizona Fall League hardly proved eye-popping, the pitcher's stuff -- a fastball that touched as high as 96 mph this year and a swing-and-miss curve and change -- made him the clear No. 1 in the Sox system, ahead of second-ranked prospect Jose Iglesias.

FOXBORO -- One day after reporting following a three-month holdout, offensive guard Logan Mankins admitted he's not sure if he got what he wanted out of his dispute with the Patriots. But he acknowledged Wednesday at a news conference at Gillette Stadium that he missed the game and was happy to be back with his teammates.

"I'm not looking at it like I'm early," said Mankins, who came back two weeks before the deadline for receiving credit for playing this season. "I'm eight weeks late. I felt like it was the time to come back."

Mankins was asked if he will regret holding out. "We'll see," he said. Mankins added he's not sure missing half the season was worth making the point to the organization, "Not at the moment," Mankins said.

Tim Thomas was first off the ice at the Bruins' morning skate in Buffalo, according to multiple reports on Wednesday, and it appears the 36-year-old goaltender will be between the pipes for the Bruins when they take on the Sabres on Wednesday night.

Thomas was named the NHL's No. 2 star of the month for October after going 6-0 with a 0.50 goals against average, a .984 save percentage, and three shutouts. Ryan Miller is not expected to play for the Sabres due to a lower body injury suffered on Friday, and Patrick Lalime is expected to replace him in net on Wednesday.

Red Sox prospect Adalberto Ibarra, a catcher whom the club signed last summer, underwent surgery on the labrum in his right shoulder last month. Ibarra will likely be sidelined throughout the offseason, but the Sox are hopeful that he will be able to return to games (at least as a designated hitter) by spring training.

“We ended up having to clean up his shoulder a little bit. He will actually be out until spring training,” said Sox farm director Mike Hazen. “He wasn’t able to get over the hump throwing-wise. We were in that situation where, do we wait and have it flare up and then he misses the season, or, if we do it now, he rehabs the entire offseason and he’s back playing in April."

The Sox initially signed Ibarra to a five-year major league contract, but concerns about the shoulder resulted in a failed physical that led the two sides to renegotiate a deal. Ibarra was signed...

Flannery joins Mut to break down the Isaiah Thomas trade to Boston and what it means for the Celtics this season and in the future. Paul also chats with Mut about the other deals that happened at the NBA's trading deadline

In the second of Sunday Skate, DJ and Joe discuss the approaching NHL trade deadline and what the B's will do. They get into the Boychuk move at the beginning of the season and Boychuk's brother venting on Twitter this morning about complaining B's fans. There is more discussion on the 3rd and 4th lines, their playoff chances and then they are joined by ESPN's Scott Burnside.

Another edition of Sunday Skate is upon us and DJ and Joe get into the B's big win over Arizona last night and the improvement of Ryan Spooner. They get into the Blackhawks giving up a 1st round pick for C Antoine Vermette - someone the B's could certainly use but weren't willing to give up the steep price of a 1st rounder. DJ and Joe also get into Claude's willingness to switch up lines as well as the performance of the 3rd and 4th lines. Finally, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman sits down with the boys.

In today's Three For All, Tim talks about Sharknado 3, Christian talks about Lakers Guard Nick Young's beef with SportsCenter Anchor Robert Flores, and Lou talks about a high school basketball team that was disqualified from the playoffs for wearing breast cancer awareness jerseys.

With free agency looming, Adam Schefter, on Sportscenter, said that he thinks Darrelle Revis will NOT be re-signed by the Patriots and that they will cut him instead, making him the most coveted free agent on the market.